


The Littlest Gladiator

by Remix_Sakura



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Immortal Flames, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-10 01:14:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5563099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remix_Sakura/pseuds/Remix_Sakura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruruhi Ruhi, a Lalafell child of five years, comes across a group of really cool sword-fighting people called the Immortal Flames, while out walking with her father, Raubahn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Littlest Gladiator

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings, XIV fans! This story introduces an OC named Ruruhi Ruhi - Immortal Flames recruit, big sister to Lilira Lira, and eldest child of Ul'dah's biggest power couple. She grows up in future democratic Ul'dah ~10-20 years from the present day. This one takes place when she’s five years old. So, it’s written in a way that I imagine a five-year-old would think.
> 
> More about this scenario can be found on Ruruhi's RP blog at: http://ruruhi.tumblr.com/tagged/background

Just before the sun went down was the best time of the day, Ruruhi thought. Where she lived, it was always very hot in the day, and very cold at night, but this time of day was just perfect. Plus, the sky made all kinds of pretty colors. 

“Papa, look! Look at all the colors in the sky!”   
  
He nodded in the direction she had pointed. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it, Ruruhi. It’s called a sunset, you know.”   
  
“A sun…set…” But there was only one sun, not a set of suns. There were plenty of words for which she still didn’t quite understand the meaning. She was only five summers old, after all.   
  
She’d gone walking often lately with Papa. He said that Mama had been very busy with taking care of her new little sister, Lilira, but that she’d still come play with Ruruhi whenever she had the chance. At first he and Ruruhi had just gone walking around the houses made of stone, where they called it The Goblet. But Ruruhi wanted to go exploring, so now they would walk into the desert instead. That was called Thanalan. And the big city with the walls around it and the tall round buildings with the points on them, that she could always see from wherever they were, that was Ul'dah.   
  
She liked walking with Papa. For one thing, she didn’t have to walk much; she should just sit on top of his shoulder. She could hold on to his long braids if she was scared of losing her balance, as long as she was careful not to pull hard. She could see everything better from there, and the tall grass didn’t have to brush her in the face. She had the habit of asking a lot of questions — what’s this, what’s that — but Papa would always tell her the answers.   
  
There were rarely any other people walking around in the desert called Thanalan. Sometimes they would see a wagon train going to the city, or someone with a pickaxe using it to hit some rocks. That was called mining. Today, however, Ruruhi was excited to see a whole bunch of people gathered together, off some distance away. She pointed and bounced on his shoulder.   
  
“Papa, Papa! What are those people doing?”   
  
He looked over and seemed to be… amused by what he saw. “Looks like they’re practicing. Why don’t we go over and see how they’re doing.”   
  
When they approached the mysterious group, out in front was a man a head or two shorter than Papa, wearing a lace-front cotton shirt and a leather pot helm, with his arms at his hips. He seemed to be just looking around the desert, keeping a watch maybe for the others so they wouldn’t get attacked by monsters. When he saw Papa walk up to him, however, his head drew back sharply in surprise.   
  
“G-General!” Instead of waving hello, he did this movement where he put one of his arms across the front of his body, and the other arm behind. Then, a bunch of the other people who were practicing turned around, made similar expressions of surprise, and did he same motion.   
  
Papa just smiled and nodded. “You don’t have to call me that.”   
  
Ruruhi was confused; this was something she hadn’t heard before. “Papa, what’s a General?”   
  
The man made a silly grin, like he was trying not to laugh. Instead of answering her question, though, Papa asked the man, “How’s the training of the new recruits going, Ealwyth?“   
  
How did Papa know the man’s name? Maybe these were some of Papa’s friends or something. The grown-ups went on and on talking in big words, but Ruruhi just kept watching the training, or whatever they were doing. She could see that they were all wearing very similar clothes and colors. Each of them had a sword in their right hand, and most had a shield of leather or brass held strapped to their left arm. Even the way they would stand, or the moves they would make with the sword and shield, were similar. When one of them would do something too different, another would often seem to correct them.   
  
"They’re practicing… sword fighting? Are they like heroes? Or adventurers?” Ruruhi asked, interrupting the two grown-ups. Mama was always telling her not to do that, but she was always forgetting. She knew a lot of stories about adventurers. Where they would slay dragons in the snow, or shoot balls of fire from a wooden staff, or save a whole town of innocent people from some bad guys. She’d even heard people in the city talk about how they once saw the Warrior of Light, who was the greatest adventurer of them all.   
  
The man whose name started with an E or something smiled at her. "They’re kind of like heroes. They work day and night to protect Ul'dah and Thanalan, so it can be a safe place for kids like you. We call them the Immortal Flames.”   
  
Her eyes widened. The… something-something Flames. Though she didn’t know what that meant, it did sound like a good name for a group of heroes. “That’s so cool…“   
  
Ruruhi leaned down to rest on top of Papa’s head, and he reached up to gently stroke her wavy brown hair as he went on and on talking about grown-up stuff. She gazed with awe at the Flames sparring with their swords and shields. Just think, a whole bunch of heroes, right here in Ul’dah! All sorts of people, men and women, tall and small and in between, were practicing. She bet they wanted to be all ready to go save people and beat up bad guys when the time came. …Could she be a hero too, just like them?   
  
She was so enthralled that it caught her by surprise when Papa seemed to be finished with his grown-up conversation, and after the man made another arm-motion-thing, started taking her back the way they’d come. Ruruhi looked anxiously back at the Flames and pouted a little. What if…maybe…   
  
"I wanna sword fight too!” She looked down at her father from her perch and waved her arms excitedly. “Papa, do you know how to sword fight?!”   
  
Papa stopped cold where he stood, and said nothing, looking down for several moments, then looking up at her with a very serious face. That was strange. He always seemed to know the answers to her questions. But this time, he looked very surprised, even a little nervous, like he didn’t know the answer. She always asked a lot of questions; shouldn’t this one be easy?   
  
“And why does a little girl like you need to know how to sword fight?”   
  
Ruruhi put her hand on her chin and thought for a few moments.   
  
“Ummmm… well… cause … I wanna protect Ul’dah too!” She smiled and waved her arms some more. “I can protect people just like they do over there. Like, um…” She looked up in thought. "If somebody needs help ‘cause they’re gonna get eaten by a monster on the road.” She nodded in satisfaction at her answer. "Or if some bad guys come after you, Papa, I’ll protect you! And Mama, and Lilira too! She’s really little and I’m her big sister, so I have to look out for her.”   
  
Papa looked at her for a long time. He still looked surprised, but also… very _proud_. The way he looked whenever she figured something out for herself before any grown-ups told her about it. Which she did a lot, since she was very clever.   
  
“Somehow, I must have already taught you a thing or two.“ He lifted Ruruhi slowly off his shoulder, and knelt down to the ground to look closely at her.   
  
"I guess you’re not too young to understand.” He looked serious again, and put a hand on her shoulder. “If you pick up a sword, child, you must always remember its true purpose. …To protect those that cannot do so for themselves. To protect what you love. To protect what is right. To use it for any other purpose is to eventually doom your own life. It can only lead you away from the path of truth and justice. …Do you promise to always remember that, Ruruhi?”   
  
Wow, that all sounded really deep. She didn’t really understand why there was a need to make such a promise. Of _course_ that’s what she would do. But if Papa thought it was really that important, she would agree wholeheartedly.   
  
Ruruhi smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “Mhmm! I promise, Papa. I’m gonna always protect people, no matter what!“   
  
He had on the biggest smile she had ever seen on anyone in all her five years.   
  
“That’s my girl. Now, let’s go back and find you a practice sword.”   
  
——

  
Epilogue: 

“You’re teaching our child to do _what?!”_


End file.
